DMK files review petition against top court order upholding 10% EWS quota

Plea seeks an open court hearing in the matter on the ground that it affects a lot of citizens in the country

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) filed a review petition against the Supreme Court’s judgment which had upheld the Constitutional validity of 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker section (EWS) among forward castes in government jobs and colleges across India.

The plea sought an open court hearing in the matter on the ground that it affects a lot of citizens in the country.

A Bench comprising then Chief Justice of India (CJI) U U Lalit and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi, and J B Pardiwala delivered the judgment on November 7.

Of the five judgments delivered, Justices Ravindra Bhat and Lalit gave dissenting judgments.

Reading out the verdict, Justice Maheshwari had said that the 103rd constitutional amendment for the EWS quota was valid and did not violate the basic structure of the Constitution. Reservation, he said, is an instrument of affirmative action to ensure an all-inclusive march toward the goals of an egalitarian society.

“Reservation is an affirmative action measure not only for the socially and economically backward classes but (also) for any disadvantaged section. Therefore, reservation solely on an economic basis does not violate the Constitution,” he had observed.

The DMK, in its plea, stated that the said judgment overrules the ruling passed by the nine-judge Constitution Bench in Indra Sawhney vs Union of India which has authoritatively pronounced that reservations cannot be based on economic criteria.

The plea said the EWS verdict legitimises discrimination by opining that exclusion is vital for achieving the desired results for a particular target group. “It fails to consider the fact that the intended target group, that is the EWS, was created by excluding the similarly placed economically weaker sections of the SC/ST/OBC community who have remained to be economically weaker due to rampant, systemic discrimination and oppression over the years,” the petition said.

The Supreme Court committed an error apparent on the face of the record by holding that abolition of reservations will abolish the caste system and lead to an egalitarian society, the plea further said.